Blumenthal, Courtney: Say 'No' To Majority Of CL&P Storm Costs

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Joe Courtney urged the state's utility regulator Monday to dock Connecticut Light & Power most of the $414 million in storm costs it wants to recover from ratepayers.

"In what other line of business would a company who failed to perform charge extra for its inadequacy?" Blumenthal said in an interview on Thursday. "Businesses suffered huge losses. Restaurants lost huge amounts of food. Families had to move out of their houses and into hotels."

The utility on Thursday asked regulators to let it recoup from ratepayers the costs from five storms during 2011 and 2012 — including costs from Tropical Storm Irene, the October 2011 snowstorm, last year's Storm Sandy and two smaller storms.

If the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority grants the utility's request in full, the typical residential ratepayer — using 700 kWh a month — would see a $3 per month increase in their electric bill for six years, CL&P has said.

Without putting a number on it, Blumenthal and Courtney said in a letter to regulators that they want the utility to cover the full costs of the October snowstorm, as well as costs stemming from poor communications during Tropical Storm Irene. They are also asking regulators to break out the fine-toothed comb for the entire request.

The October snowstorm accounts for $175 million of the $462 million that CL&P said it spent on the five storms, of which it wants to collect $414 million.

Under Connecticut law, utilities are entitled to recover storm expenses if they act in a "prudent" manner during the storm. Regulators — in their final report issued on the two 2011 storms last August — stopped short of declaring CL&P's storm response "imprudent" but left the door open to shaving away some of their storm costs.

"While we recognize there's always room for improvement in responding to storm emergencies, and that our response could have been better in 2011, preparing for and responding to such devastating storms is very expensive and something for which we, our customers and our regulators rightly expect we'll continue to do in the future," the utility said in a written statement.

The costs include bringing in outside tree and line crews and replacement poles and transformers, as well as many miles of wire. It's common for utilities to recoup such costs from storms through periodic rate increases.

"We believe we have strengthened our storm response since 2011 and remain committed to responding safely and quickly to future storms," the utility said.

CL&P is limited in when it can next raise electric rates. In a 2012 settlement with regulators to allow CL&P's parent company, Northeast Utilities, to merge with Boston-based NSTAR, the utility agreed to freeze electric rates until Dec. 1, 2014. NU and CL&P also agreed to forgo $40 million in storm expenses from Tropical Storm Irene and the October 2011 snowstorm.

Courtney said that he remembers homeowners' frustration being "sky high" during the 2011 storms. "Eastern Connecticut, particularly with Irene, took it on the chin, but even with the October storm, the eastern towns also got belted."

With reports from climate scientists and meteorologists that New England could continue to see this type of extreme turbulence, Courtney said that PURA's decision about who picks up the tab will establish an important precedent.

"To a certain degree, this case is going to set a benchmark," he said. "Connecticut ratepayers really have a lot at stake."